C. Yang (Linsey) MSc

Stance-taking – the expression of our subjective certainty, attitude, or evaluation – is central to how we conceptualise opinions and enable communication. This can be challenging for L2 English speakers in dynamic spoken interactions. Do L2 English speakers from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds conceptualise subjectivity to varying degrees? Do they differ in their preference for epistemic versus attitudinal markers? And how do speakers adapt their stance-taking strategies across different spoken tasks?

My research addresses these questions by systematically comparing spoken corpora from Chinese, Dutch, French, and Greek L2 English speakers, alongside L1 British speakers. I am interested in how their use of stance markers reflects patterns of cross-linguistic or cross-cultural influences, and how these linguistic devices relate to the deeper conceptualisation and realisation of our subjective opinion.